Detainees Heading to Illinois

Unused Prison to Transform Into a High-Security Facility for Guantanamo Prisoners

By

Evan Perez in Washington and

Joe Barrett in Chicago

Updated Dec. 16, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

A largely unused prison in rural Illinois will be retrofitted with better security to hold military tribunals for Guantanamo Bay prisoners and to house detainees who may never be put on trial, Obama administration officials said.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered the federal government to acquire the state prison in Thomson, Ill., and turn it into a high-security federal facility to house federal prisoners and about 100 Guantanamo detainees. The move is an important step in the president's effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, which administration officials now estimate may not happen until a year after the Jan. 22, 2010, deadline Mr. Obama set.

ENLARGE

The Thomson water tower stands outside the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois Tuesday. The prison, designed to hold 1,600 inmates, was built in 2001 at a cost of $128 million.
Associated Press

The prospect of moving terror suspects to an economically distressed Illinois village pits security concerns against the administration's promise of 3,000 new jobs in a rural corner of the president's home state, on the border with Iowa, about 145 miles west of Chicago.

"It's gonna help everybody out," said Todd Baker, the 43-year-old owner of Todd's Bait and Tackle in Thomson's small downtown strip. As he dispensed ice-fishing gear to a stream of customers Tuesday, Mr. Baker said only a few of his customers express safety worries. "They say terrorists are going to attack the prison or the trains or the nuclear plant or the dam. It's pretty much a maximum-security prison now. I'm not worried about that at all."

The president's decision stirred criticism from Republicans who have cited security concerns in their objection to closing the Guantanamo prison. But Mr. Obama has found support from some local residents and officials who are eager for the thousands of new jobs in Thomson, which has a population of about 550. The unemployment rate in surrounding Carroll County was 11.1% in October, the most recent state figures.

ENLARGE

Todd Baker of Todd's Tackle in Thomson, Ill., hopes for more business as a result of President Barack Obama's order Tuesday to acquire a state prison in Thomson to be the new home for a limited number of terror suspects now held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Associated Press

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), who lobbied Mr. Obama for the move, called it "an opportunity to dramatically reduce unemployment, create thousands of good-paying jobs and breathe new economic life into this part of downstate Illinois." Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky highlighted the national-security concerns raised by many critics of the Guantanamo closure. "The administration has failed to explain how transferring terrorists to Gitmo North will make Americans safer than keeping these terrorists off of our shores in the secure facility in Cuba," Mr. McConnell said.

Obama cabinet officials told Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn in a letter released Tuesday that the Thomson prison "will be enhanced to exceed perimeter security standards at the nation's only 'supermax' prison in Florence, Colo., where there has never been an escape or external attack."

The Obama administration has moved about 30 prisoners out of Guantanamo. Of the 210 prisoners still being held there, about 65 are approved for repatriation, and between 25 and 30 have been matched with other countries willing to accept them, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. An additional 10 to 15 are cleared for resettlement but no home has been identified for them, the official said.

Prison Progress

The Guantanamo Bay prison holds 210 detainees, down from 242 when President Barack Obama took office:

Detainees moved since January

Resettled in third countries: 20

Repatriated to home countries: 10

Transferred to U.S. for prosecution: 1

Committed Suicide: 1

Detainees Remaining

To be resettled in third countries: 25 to 30

Cleared for resettlement but no third-country homes yet found: 10 to 15

Planned for repatriation: 65

Likely indefinitely detained without trial: about 30

Referred for prosecution so far: 40

Source: WSJ research

About 40 have been referred for possible prosecution in criminal and military courts, and another 30 prisoners are likely to be detained indefinitely without trial, the official said.

The security improvements at the Thomson prison are likely to take several months to complete, and prisoner transfers won't begin until the upgrades are in place. The White House also still faces a general prohibition enacted by Congress against bringing Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. other than for trial. Administration officials said they would seek legislation to reverse that restriction.

The Thomson prison, designed to hold 1,600 maximum security inmates, was built in 2001 at a cost of $128 million. But the state never came up with money to run the facility and it now houses about 200 minimum-security prisoners.

In a call with reporters, two senior administration officials described the enhanced Thomson facility as "even beyond maximum security." Asked about the possibility of releasing prisoners inside the U.S., the officials said, "The president doesn't intend to release any detainees into the U.S." The officials cited current law and the congressional authorization for military force following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as buttressing the administration's power to legally hold prisoners indefinitely without trial and with no plans to release them.

Tom Parker, Amnesty International USA policy director, criticized the prospect of the U.S. relocating some prisoners from Guantanamo and holding them indefinitely in Illinois: "The only thing that President Obama is doing with this announcement is changing the ZIP code of Guantanamo," Mr. Parker said.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.